Welcome 2 my place 2 gush & fangirl over all things movies, shows & books that grabs my interest. Enjoying a variety of genres, my favorites are sci-fi, fantasy, paranormal/supernatural, horror, suspense & dystopian...w/ a touch of mystery, romance & comedy. I share this passion w/ my daughter, so this blog of ours is our place 2 share our thoughts on movies, shows & books we watch & read, including our fan experiences at various events...& having fun while we do it!

Tuesday, June 19, 2018

BLOG TOUR: Rainy Day Friends by Jill Shalvis

Welcome to the Official Blog Tour for Rainy Day Friends, book 2 in the Wildstone series, by Jill Shalvis. Not only that, We are celebrating this book birthday... TODAY!!! We will kick off this tour with an exclusive excerpt AND my thoughts on this emotional read. Not only that, there is a cool giveaway! So... Check out all the tour festivities below and grab your copy today!!!

Genre:

New Adult/Adult

Contemporary Romance

Series:

Wildstone, #2

Publish Date:

June 19, 2018

Publisher:

William Morrow Impulse

Synopsis:Following the USA Today bestselling author of Lost and Found Sisters comes Jill Shalvis' moving story of heart, loss, betrayal, and friendshipSix months after Lanie Jacobs’ husband’s death, it’s hard to imagine anything could deepen her sense of pain and loss. But then Lanie discovers she isn’t the only one grieving his sudden passing. A serial adulterer, he left behind several other women who, like Lanie, each believe she was his legally wedded wife.Rocked by the infidelity, Lanie is left to grapple with searing questions. How could she be so wrong about a man she thought she knew better than anyone? Will she ever be able to trust another person? Can she even trust herself?Desperate to make a fresh start, Lanie impulsively takes a job at the family-run Capriotti Winery. At first, she feels like an outsider among the boisterous Capriottis. With no real family of her own, she’s bewildered by how quickly they all take her under their wing and make her feel like she belongs. Especially Mark Capriotti, a gruffly handsome Air Force veteran turned deputy sheriff who manages to wind his way into Lanie’s cold, broken heart—along with the rest of the clan.Everything is finally going well for her, but the arrival of River Brown changes all that. The fresh-faced twenty-one-year old seems as sweet as they come…until her dark secrets come to light—secrets that could destroy the new life Lanie’s only just begun to build.

*Excerpt*

Chapter 1

Anxiety Girl, able to jump to the worst conclusion in a single bound!

Most of the time Karma was a bitch, but every once in awhile she could be surprisingly nice, even kind. Lanie Jacobs, way past overdue for both of those things, told herself this was her time. Seize the day and all that, and drawing a deep breath, she exited the highway at Wildstone.

The old wild-west California town was nestled in the rolling hills between the Pacific Coast and wine/ranching country. She’d actually grown up not too far from here, though it felt like a lifetime ago. The road was narrow and curvy, and since it’d rained earlier, she added tricky and slick to her growing list of issues. She was already white-knuckling a sharp turn when a kamikaze squirrel darted into her lane, causing her to nearly swerve into oncoming traffic before remembering the rules of country driving.

Never leave your lane; not for weather, animals, or even God himself.

Luckily the squirrel reversed direction, but before she could relax a trio of deer bounded across the road. “Run, Bambi,” she cried, hitting her brakes, and by the skin of their collective teeth, they all missed each other.

Sweating, nerves sizzling like live wires, she finally turned onto Capriotti Lane and parked as she’d been instructed.

It took a moment for her pulse to come down from stroke level. She’d been taught anti-anxiety techniques, but she’d never quite figured out how to make any of them work while in the actual throes of an anxiety attack.

It’s all good she told herself but because she wasn’t buying what she was selling, she had to force herself out of the car like she was a five year old starting kindergarten instead of being thirty and simply facing a brand new job. Given all she’d been through, this should be easy, even fun. But sometimes adulthood felt like the vet’s office and she was the dog excited for the car ride -- only to find out the real destination.

Shaking her head, she strode across the parking lot. It was April, which meant the rolling hills to the east were green and lush and the Pacific Ocean to the west looked like a surfer’s dream, all of it so gorgeous it could’ve been a postcard. A beautiful smoke screen over her not-so-beautiful past. The air was scented like a really expensive sea-and-earth candle, though all Lanie could smell was her forgotten hopes and dreams. With wood chips crunching under her shoes, she headed through the entrance beneath which was a huge wooden sign that read:

Capriotti Winery, from our fields to your table…

Her heart sped up. Nerves, of course, the bane of her existence. But after a very crappy few years, she was changing her path. For once in her godforsaken life, something was going to work out for her. This was going to work out for her.

New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis lives in a small town in the Sierras full of quirky characters. Any resemblance to the quirky characters in her books is, um, mostly coincidental.

Look for Jill's bestselling, award-winning books wherever romances are sold and visit her website for a complete book list and daily blog detailing her city-girl-living-in-the-mountains adventures.

Stay connected with Jill Shalvis

~~~~~

*My Thoughts*

Note: This review contains NO spoilers

Just incredibly emotional and heart-wrenching. I am just in love with Jill Shalvis' books... Well, I am loving this Wildstone series. I've read the first book, Lost and Found Sisters, and now, I am just reeling with a whole lot of feels with this second book, Rainy Day Friends. Two separate stories happening in the same cozy small coastal town called Wildstone.

Yes, we are back in the coastal town of Wildstone. This time, we follow Lanie and her journey on the loss and betrayal of her now dead husband. The synopsis pretty much gives readers an idea of where Lanie is coming from. Although the titles in this series can be read as standalone novels, I think it best to read the first book, Lost and Found Sisters, to get a beautiful description of this quaint coastal town where these stories take place, especially when various locations in this small town is mentioned in this second book. Moreover, every descriptive detail is still filled with lush and beautiful scenery that can wake up the imagination.

As for all those quirky residents of Wildstone, each character having their own strong personalities and individual and independent thinking. Of course, living in a small town, everyone knows everyone.... Right?!? 😆 So, it was no surprise to me that even I fell in love with these locals. Yes, the development of these characters was well-rounded and distinct in allowing each to stand on their own as individuals. I enjoyed how Jill Shalvis distinguished the different family dynamics that these characters "grew up" in. Not only that, Jill Shalvis has this ability to bring out the emotional hardships and success that these characters have experienced and overcome. It even brought tears to my eyes as I followed Lanie on her journey to "start over." All together, there's a touch of realism that people can relate to in one way or another. Of course, there was the right amount of sexy romance that did not take away from the heartfelt story.

Rainy Day Friends is an emotional and gripping story that can rip your heart out, break it in to little pieces, and put it all back together again. This is a read that can make readers fall in love with these characters and this beautiful coastal town.

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All books, movies and shows reviewed are entirely the thoughts, feelings, and opinions of the reviewers. All books reviewed on this blog are either bought, borrowed, won from contests/giveaways, or sent by publishers or authors for the purpose of review. All review copies/ARCs (advance readers copies) are given by the publisher/author/a third party in exchange for honest and thoughtful reviews. No monetary compensation of any kind is given or received for any and all of our reviews.